


A Guide meets a Sentinel

by Phantoms_Echo



Series: Sentinel&Guide Universe [3]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Accidental Building jumping, Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Complete, Conan is a badass, Even when he's only half-way coherent, Guide Kaito, Guns, KID needs to watch his language, Kaito is a strong independent Guide who don't need to Sentinel, Kaito's mental magic, M/M, No Smut, Sentinel Conan, Sentinel Senses, Sentinel Zoning, Sentinel/Guide, Shooting, Snipers, Snuggly Conan, Telepathy, there are children around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-15 13:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantoms_Echo/pseuds/Phantoms_Echo
Summary: Conan didn't even realize he was approaching the edge of the building, not even when he ran right under the rail.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito 1412, only the idea for this fic.
> 
> PS - wow, two in one day? I'm on fire! :D
> 
> Also, this will be a multi-chapter addition to the ongoing series. I'm thinking 2 chapters total, but we'll see how long part two gets.

“Conan-kun~!” Ayumi shouted across the schoolyard. Conan winced at the loud cry, putting a hand over his ears to stop the ringing. Why were children always so _loud_? Why couldn’t they speak in normal tones or, even better, _whisper_?

“Did you remember to take your medicine?” Haibara asked as the other Shounen Tantei ran across the schoolyard towards them.

“Yeah, that’s not the problem,” Conan sighed, massaging his temples with the palms of his hands. “It’s the times where I _can’t_ take it that’s been driving me nuts.”

“Ah, at night?” Haibara raised an eyebrow. “I had not thought it would be particularly taxing.”

“Except that’s the time I need to sleep,” Conan hissed, lowering his voice as the other three drew nearer. “And I can’t exactly do that with Kogoro snoring in my ear or the smells from the bathroom filling the air or _my own pajamas trying to skin me alive_.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Haibara sniffed and looked away.

“Why don’t _you_ try being a 5-S, then?” Conan grumbled. Somehow, despite also shrinking, Haibara had not come online as either Guide or Sentinel. She said that his status was due to his own blood, not Apotoxin. Conan begrudgingly agreed that she was probably right in her assessment. It still didn’t make him feel better.

“Being a what, Conan-kun?” Ayumi asked right into his ear. The sound reverberated in his skull, smacking around his brain as he squeezed his eyes shut to try and ignore it. “Conan-kun? Are you okay?”

“Yea-!”

“Edogawa-kun was telling me he wasn’t feeling well,” Haibara said instead. “I think it’s best if he rests tonight instead of playing soccer.”

Conan shot her a grateful look, but Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko let out sibling whines, “ _Heeeeeh_?”

“But Conan promised to teach us those cool soccer tricks!” Genta complained, waving the ball in his hands around as if to prove his point.

“And he skipped out on club activities two days last week!” Mitsuhiko added. Ah, right, Conan forgot they made the Shounen Tantei an actual club.

Well, it wasn’t like he’d signed up for it. More like he got dragged into it.

“How about _I_ join you today?” Haibara bargained, knowing she wouldn’t get far with the kids without some sort of haggling.

“Really join us?” Mitsuhiko clarified after a brief bout of silence. “Not just sit on the side and read a book, right?”

Haibara sighed but nodded.

The three true kids looked at each other, having some kind of silent conversation before pulling back and giving a nod at her.

“But Conan comes to play with us tomorrow!” Ayumi demanded.

“If Edogawa-kun isn’t feeling too sick,” Haibara agreed, leaving Conan the out he so desperately needed. He nodded, thankful, but he knew he wouldn’t get off scot-free. That was her ‘you owe me’ look.

No doubt she’d want another designer purse.

Waving to his friends, Conan started on his way home, albeit at a slow, tired pace. Every sound was grinding on his mind today, the cars, the bikes, the pedestrians. Every sound was wearing on his sleep-deprived mind. It was everything he could do to keep his feet moving in the right direction.

Until he heard it.

_“That’s right folks. Kaitou KID has sent out another notice for a heist at nine o’clock tonight. The location is the Old World’s Theatre and the object tonight is-!”_

Conan was torn. He really needed to go back and try to get as much sleep as possible before his Senes-5 wore off, but… he also _really_ wanted to catch KID. The thief had even been polite enough to make the heist at a time earlier than midnight. It was practically an _invitation_.

But his head hurt, going on 72 hours without sleep.

But that theatre was in _Beika_ , so close to home!

But… well… he could take some pain medication, sneak it in behind Ran’s back. Despite being kid-sized, he knew how to open the child-proof lids. And he could always take a Senes-5 before bed. It wouldn’t be the first time.

He tried his best to follow Agasa’s warning, but after a week where he’d gotten no sleep _at all_ , he’d been weak and taken a pill before bed. He’d slept better than he had in months. Since then he tried to keep it down to one a week and only if it was _bad_ , but… it was just so _hard_ to be awake so long and just so _easy_ to take a pill and finally get some _sleep_.

Conan felt guilty, but he didn’t have another choice. Not if he wanted to keep no one the wiser.

Plan decided, Conan picked up his pace, in a hurry to get back to the detective agency. The sooner he knocked off this headache, the sooner he could be at the top of his game to capture KID.

That thief wasn’t getting away this time!

*             *             *             *             *

The theatre was a mess of Taskforce members and actual actors for the play. Nakamori was doing his typical yelling routine and Conan had already been caught by the paparazzi looking to interview the KID-Killer. Conan dreaded the complaints of the Shounen Tantei the next day and Haibara’s disappointed looks.

But what’s done was done.

“Five minutes!” Nakamori called out over the din, voice actually loud enough to clear the volume. It made Conan’s ears ring again and his head throb.

If he didn’t knew better, Conan would almost say that the headache was caused by his Sentinel senses acting up, but that couldn’t be. He’d taken his latest pill at 2:00pm sharp. He still had _at least_ another hour before the effects wore off. By then, he expected to be home and popping another pill down.

The intermission drew to a close as the lights dimmed. The first scene up after the break would be where KID had his window of opportunity to steal the necklace being used as a prop. In the play, the necklace held a curse that the wearer would watch all of their loved ones die before it could be removed. In reality, it was just a really shiny gem, as far as Conan knew.

With all lights but the spotlight gone, Conan moved into position at the back of the theatre, close to the doors that led to the emergency rooftop stairs. The theatre was only the first two floors of the building; The rest of the seven stories were office spaces for various companies. In a tall building like this, KID would head towards the roof and use his hang glider to get away.

Suddenly, the room filled with smoke and familiar cackles of laughter. Instead of the lights cutting out like Nakamori-keibu expected, they brightened, causing the reflection on the smoke particles to turn blindingly bright. Conan hissed and covered his stinging eyes.

Just as he did so, he felt the air stir around him, and the cackles rush past his side. The door slammed open and then slammed back closed.

Dammit! The thief had slipped past him while his guard was down!

Conan wouldn’t give up!

He quickly ducked into the stairwell and gave chase, turning the first platform just to see the tail end of KID’s signature white cape disappear up two flights ahead of him. Conan gritted his teeth and ran faster, taking the steps one at a time as fast as his short legs could carry him. Slowly but surely, he started to catch up.

As the thief dashed up the stairs, the boy kept stride as best he could, eyes tacked to that white suit and flowing cape. His field of vision blurred at the edges. The white wall to his right and the silver railing to his left started to fade together. _Tunnel-vision_ something in the back of his mind noted, but he was too single-minded to pay it much attention. Slowly, his vision narrowed without him realizing, growing smaller and smaller until the only thing he could see was the bobbing white figure before him.

A part of him was amused to be able to see the individual threads of the thief’s cape and the tiny holes in-between the weave. So many holes, so many threads… it looked so soft and flexible. A door briefly cut him off, but he pushed it aside, eager to follow the flowing, entrancing designs. There were words and sounds, but they were muffled, near silent.

 The white threads weren't too thick, so the material they made up was probably pretty light –like the way the light reflected off the strings and refracted in the air, shooting every which way and dancing around and around as the cloth shifted and billowed in the wind…

Conan didn't even realize he was approaching the edge of the building, not even when he ran right under the rail.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito, only the idea for this fic.
> 
> PS- apparently it's going to be more than just two chapters.

Kaito didn't know the kid following him, per se, but he recognized his biggest critic when he saw him. The boy couldn't be older than seven, but had eyes far more intelligent. Despite the fact that Nakamori-keibu was his favorite officer, Tantei-kun was his favorite chaser -mainly for the challenge he gave. It always made heists more fun.

Tonight, though, there was something different. There was a tension in the air that spoke of a Sentinel on the edge of a zone, possibly a fugue. Kaito doubted that the Taskforce had figured out his Guide status and thought it even less likely that they’d found a Sentinel to lure him out. Instinctively, Guides couldn't keep themselves from helping a Sentinel in need. If the Sentinel slipped into fugue, there was no way Kaito could resist circling back to make sure they were okay. As far as Kaito knew, though, no one even suspected his Guide status. Unless… Hakuba had been serious...

Kaito tore up the stairs, those light footsteps behind him. Despite the shorter leg length, the kid was keeping pace quite easily, managing to step in the exact right spots to not trigger any traps. If the kid were ten years older and three times the height, Kaito was sure he would have been caught by now.

As it was, though, Kaito would be making his escape.

The door burst out onto the roof top, winds whipping it back. The winds were strong, but not too much so. And they blew in the direction of KID’s getaway, all the better for Kaito.

“It’s been fun, Tantei-kun!” Kaito said as he ran full-tilt towards the safety rails around the edge of the building. He looked back over his shoulder at the boy. “But I really must be going!”

With that, he took a flying leap off the skyscraper. He turned as he fell, wanting to see the look on Tantei-kun's face, but felt his own shift in horror. Without pause or hesitation, the boy followed the thief right over the side of the building. Kaito cursed and spread his arms out, trying to induce enough air drag to slow down his fall. The boy seemed to be falling in a straight line, eyes focused on KID and quickly gaining speed. If Kaito had seen a parachute or safety line, he’d have said the boy had jumped to follow him, but the boy had neither.

KID had both.

Managing to slow down just enough, Kaito grabbed the boy’s shoulder and reeled him in. The card gun was already installed with the grappling hook, so it was only a matter of aiming and firing and praying to the heavens that the sudden stop didn't yank his arm out of socket. Before the line could snap taut, Kaito threw a leg over the steel cable. A quick twist and he had a makeshift swing that would, hopefully, spare his shoulder another hospital visit.

He was proven right not five seconds later.

Kaito let out a sigh of relief before risking a glance down at the body in his arms. Tantei-kun seemed to be okay, if a little...limp. Had he lost consciousness on the way down?

Kaito didn't have enough hands to check on the boy and keep them both suspended, so instead he looked around for a way down. Below, the street was swarming with KID Task Force members. He wasn't sure his line would go down that far anyway. Above, Kaito could hear Nakamori-keibu yelling that KID was dangling from the building. He felt the steel cable from his grappling hook jerk and start to slowly move upwards and _shit_ , they were reeling him in, _literally_.

Okay, so Kaito couldn't go up and he couldn't go down, so that left…

“Hold on, Tantei-kun,” Kaito muttered under his breath and he started to sway them back and forth. Slowly, momentum built up until they were swinging like a pendulum. At the peak of their swing, Kaito untwisted the cable and gained that extra few feet to reach the side of the building. Without further thought, he smashed through the window into the dark, vacant office on the other side.

Kaito hissed as he landed on broken glass. His butt would be sore for a few days, but nothing too bad, all things considered. His card gun wiggled in his hand, the cable pulling taut again. Kaito pressed the release for the grappling hook, letting the steel wire swing free uninhibited.

“Tantei-kun? You all right?” Kaito asked, gently shaking the boy in his lap. Something… was wrong with the kid. He sat stock-still, but when Kaito shook him, Tantei-kun went with the movement like a rag-doll. His eyes were open, showing that he was awake, but… They were dilated and seemed to be stuck on the weave of Kaito’s suit jacket.

Kaito frowned. It couldn’t be…

A cautious brush of the kid’s mind _(3,584 holes, 4,323 threads, light’s softer, only the moon_ ) proved Kaito’s thoughts true.

The kid, _six-year-old Tantei-kun_ , was in a zone. Not just any zone, a _fugue_ –something only level 4 or 5 Sentinels fell victim to. It shouldn’t happen to Tantei-kun! Children were neutrals! The earliest any of them came on line would be 13 years of age. Even then, it was typically Guides, not _Sentinels_. And yet, here was Tantei-kun, zoning on his sense of sight by the looks of it and Kaito…

Kaito didn’t know what to do.

He wasn’t trained for this.

Most lower levels weren’t trained on how to help Sentinels out of a zone. Most _Guides_ weren’t, it was supposed to be _instinctive_ , but-!

Kaito had spent more time than not trying to _ignore_ his heritage.

A holler from the window had him flinching back, hugging a dazed Tantei-kun to him. Shit, he’d forgotten about the Taskforce.

“Need to make a dummy,” Kaito muttered to himself, “Nakamori-keibu will be down shortly. I need to make it look like I left already.”

He pulled an inflatable Kaitou from his pocket and set it to inflate. While it did that, Kaito picked Tantei-kun up by the underarms and gently set him to his feet. When Tantei-kun didn’t immediately drop back down, Kaito stood up hesitantly. Tantei-kun was still staring.

“You just…” Kaito waved his hands, noticing those blue eyes switch from his jacket to his gloves and keeping track. “Stay right there, okay?”

Kaito turned to set up his trick, using a coil of string and what was left of the grappling cable. After the tension had released, Nakamori-keibu appeared to have left it, thinking KID was escaping. Instead, KID used it in a pulley system to make himself disappear before the inspector’s very eyes. Looping the end of the string around the latch of the door and finishing his setup, KID turned to Tantei-kun.

The boy’s eyes had tracked his every motion, focused on his hands in particular. Kaito reached up to his hat, nervous, and Tantei-kun’s eyes trailed after, entranced. Kaito wasn’t sure what to do next.

The best thing to do, would be getting Tantei-kun to a Center for Guides and Sentinels and have a more experienced Guide take him out of his zone. It would be safe and, more importantly, less likely to reveal KID's secret identity.

On the other hand, it wasn’t fair to Tantei-kun. Now that he was searching for it, Kaito realized that Tantei-kun was the Sentinel he’d been sensing earlier. The feeling before felt like too much pent up pressure just waiting to overflow. Now that it had, Tantei-kun’s secret was out. A secret kept for good reason.

If a Sentinel as young as Tantei-kun were to go to a Center, he’d likely be kept there and monitored as something of a science experiment. He’d be stuck there until a Guide came along to bond with him, a strong one too if Tantei-kun was on the edge of a fugue. That could take days, months, maybe even years. Tantei-kun would never get the normal life he’d had up to that point. If Kaito let him be found, it’d be tantamount to throwing the kid in jail.

At the sound of footsteps down the hall, Kaito made a split second decision. He grabbed Tantei-kun and slid under the space of the desk in the office. Not the best of hiding places, but it only needed to last as long as it took his trick to pan out.

“ _KID_!” Nakamori-keibu shouted as he threw the door open. The string slid off the latch, freeing the rest of KID’s trick. With its anchor gone, the steel cable zipped up, tugging the KID dummy with it. Further up, it doubled over, just high enough that the KID dummy wouldn’t be seen as it exploded in a cloud of smoke.

Nakamori-keibu rushed to the window, cursing as he saw the smoke cloud. He turned to his men, shouting, “Back to the roof!”

The entire exchange happened in less than a minute and the office was silent again. Kaito waited a bit longer, just in case, before crawling out from under the desk.

“Okay, we’re going to get you home,” Kaito said to Tantei-kun, despite the zone. “And I’ll… figure out how to do this… Guiding thing.”

Tantei-kun didn’t protest, so Kaito figured he was cool with it.

Hitching the child up on his hip, Kaito maneuvered his way out of the building, careful to keep out of sight of the Taskforce. It took longer than he hoped and one too many close calls, but he finally exited out the back door.

“Okay, just need to change and-!” Kaito cut off as the safety of a gun clicked off. He looked up, horrified behind his Poker Face. Eyes narrowing, he greeted, “Snake.”

“KID,” the criminal replied, eyes casting down to Tantei-kun, “And an actual kid. Gems not enough for you?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you if I switched over to something else?” Kaito bantered, trying to look for an escape. There were only two men, but they had a car that blocked off most of the back alley. He’d have to dodge both and vault the car in order to escape. That wasn’t taking into account that Tantei-kun was pretty much a dead weight.

“It would, but I have a feeling that you aren’t,” Snake answered. “You’re too much of a goody two-shoes for that.”

“Right you are,” Kaito laughed, turning to partly shield Tantei-kun from the gun.

“Hand over the gem, KID,” Snake demanded.

“And you’ll let me go?” Kaito finished.

“Not a chance,” Snake sneered. “You had your chance to get out of the game. Now, you forfeit your life. But, I _might_ just spare the kid’s life. He’s a fan of yours, isn’t he?”

Kaito gritted his teeth, but slowly set Tantei-kun on his feet. He was 100% sure that Snake would go back on his word the moment Kaito’s dead body hit the ground, but if he played along, he might be able to buy enough time for a distraction.

As Kaito slowly reached his hand into his right pocket, another hand dug into his left –a hand that _didn’t_ belong to him. Letting out a noise of surprise, Kaito looked down at Tantei-kun just in time for the detective to throw the smoke bomb he’d fished from Kaito’s pocket to the ground. The bomb exploded and filled the alley with fumes.

“Bastard!” Snake shouted, firing at where Kaito stood, but he had long since moved. One hand on Tantei-kun’s wrist, Kaito snuck past the two men and jumped the car. He leaned back to help Tantei-kun, only to find the kid already scrambling over the truck. More shouts and gunfire followed them as they re-joined hands to disappear into the night.

The chase was on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to say "Good job!" or "Update soon!" please just leave a Kudo (or Kaito, I'm not picky. ;) ) 
> 
> If you have constructive criticism, leave a comment below. I'm working to better my skills, so any advice is appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito 1412, only the idea for this fic.
> 
> PS -I know I've posted a lot in the past few days/weeks, but I will be taking a short haitus. There's been a death in the family, so I will been tending to that. I don't know when I will next get to a computer.
> 
> Thank you for understanding.

Kaito could hear the car revving behind him. It wouldn't take long for Snake to catch up. After all, Kaito could only go so fast while dragging a six-year-old behind him. He needed to find a hiding place.

A fork was coming up and Kaito started to lean to the right, planning to hug the curb as close as he could to shave off a few precious seconds. Instead, a sharp yank had him stumbling to the left and the boy he had been dragging along took the lead.

 _Has he broken from his fugue?_ Kaito wondered as he fixed his footing to keep up. His mind reached out for a tentative brush, but no, the boy’s thoughts were still clouded by the fog of fugue.

Despite this, Kaito could feel the child’s mind working through some sort of puzzle. Hesitantly, Kaito reached through his mental shield. A deeper delve displayed a map in Kaito’s mind. Having seen a similar one, Kaito knew that it was an aerial map of Beika, the boy’s territory. Yet, there was a difference between the two maps.

This map had two moving dots, one red, one green. The green had just taken a left turn, so Kaito assumed it was the two of them. The red had to stop and turn down a different street, the one they were on was too narrow for a car. Surrounding the green dot was a wide circle covering nearly half the prefecture and dozens of yellow points that seemed to be checked and discarded at a rapid rate. One in particular highlighted itself, as if saying 'pick me! Come here!’

It looked close enough, they’d probably be able to make it before Snake...

 _But that’s the residential area!_ KID thought to himself, _that’s too public! And I won't have enough space for my hang glider!_

Immediately as he thought this, the yellow point disappeared and the purple circle shrank by a couple miles, excluding the residential area. More holes popped up wherever houses were too crowded, yellow points immediately eliminating themselves

 _Did he just… respond?_ Kaito nearly tripped in shock. _To my thoughts? During a **fugue**?_

Side-eyeing the boy, Kaito subtly thought of the altitude restrictions that came with a hang glider and waited.

Just like before, holes appeared and yellow points went out over places too short to meet the requirements.

The boy was responding to his thoughts and taking them into account as he tried to find an escape route for them.

 _But why?!_ Kaito wondered in confusion. Wasn't he Kaitou KID, phantom thief? Wasn’t the boy Tantei-kun, KID Killer? Why would he help him now?

 _Guide needs safety_. A voice not Kaito’s trickled in. It sounded too old to be the boy, but at the same time, it held the same flavor and fog-like fugue aura.

 _I can take care of myself!_ Kaito huffed. There was a strange sense of acknowledgement and then dismissal as the map continued to populate. The boy made a sharp right turn that put them in a claustrophobic alley parallel to a wide road. Kaito sputtered, _did you just ignore me? I can’t believe you ignored me! Do you not know who I am?!_

_ You are Guide. _

_I am Kaitou KID!_

_ Guide needs help. _

_Perfectly fine on my own!_

_ Sentinel must help Guide. _

Well, shit. Turns out that BS they talked about in health class was true. Sentinels instinctively had to help Guides, even if they didn't get along with them.

Too bad Hakuba was a Guide.

There was something of a _ping_ as the boy’s mind found a building he deemed 'safe’ and then proceeded to implement a route that had far too many switchbacks for Kaito’s tastes-

_The number diminished, instead switching them to small alleys and roads that dead-ended to backyards and fence-hopping_

-but Kaito knew they would be necessary.

The previous route instantly came back, emanating a weird sort of warm glow that Kaito was pretty sure he was _not_ supposed to notice.

Taking the lead now that he had the route in mind, Kaito kept tabs on the boy’s mind, watching as the Sentinel made use of his extra senses to keep track of the red enemy dot. As they raced along sidewalks and close-knit side streets, the red dot drifted further away, but hadn't stopped completely. They were almost to their destination now, Teitan Elementary School with its two stories, flat roof and wide field in front to allow Kaito some room for error.

Just as Kaito thought he was home free, two more red dots popped up on the map with a series of alarm bells and exclamation points. He had just enough warning to throw down a smoke grenade before twin shots echoed through the night. Something grazed his shoulder and another his thigh, but nothing was seriously damaged. He heard a quiet _ow_ from Tantei-kun, but with no other reaction, he figured the kid was fine.

The field in front of Teitan Elementary would be suicide, so Kaito started to turn to the left, looking for a back route, but the boy pulled him forward again by the now crushing grip on his hand. The boy’s other hand snatched a handful of KID’s smoke grenades and threw them with precision into a very complex pattern. Inside the walls of Teitan Elementary schoolyard, the smoke didn't immediately dissipate in the wind and provided much more cover than Kaito had expected.

A brief image of helicopter blades and dust was the only answer KID was going to get, apparently.

Gunshots still rang out as the two disappeared into the smoke screen, but the shots went wildly off mark, especially when Tantei-kun dragged them off to the left, hugging the wall and then the building as partial cover.

Inside the school, Kaito knew instinctively where he needed to go, a map unfolding before his eyes. The staircases were located in the middle towards the back of the building. At the top, a yellow point shone brightly in his mind’s eye. That would be his escape route.

Movement on the map made his pace slow. Tiny blue dots, so dark they almost blended in with the map, speckled various rooms in the school. A quick check on Tantei-kun's calculations provided a second, quieter set of criteria to KID.

Hiding places.

Tantei-kun wasn't planning on going with KID. His mind was running plans, possible diversions to keep Kaito from being hurt and hiding places that were only child-sized.

He was protecting his Guide.

By using himself as _bait_.

Just as they made it to the staircase, Kaito felt the boy’s grip slacken on him, getting ready to pull away. In that instant, Kaito came to a decision.

Grip tightening on that small hand, Kaito dragged the kid into his arms, never pausing as the ground switched from level to incline. The boy squirmed as those blue dots flashed, rearranging themselves several times, growing and shrinking in multitude with every step Kaito took.

The second floor briefly lit up, but blew out like a candle as Kaito continued past, up to the roof. The door to the rooftop was locked, but Kaito had his lock picks handy. It was a simple matter of picking the lock and juggling Tantei-kun’s squirming body as the boy tried to duck back down the stairs and into a locker to, assumingly, wait out the night. Finally, twenty seconds later, the door was open.

Kaito hauled the kid up again, his hang glider opening before he was even out the door. The last metal pole slid into place as Kaito took a running leap from the roof. It was by sheer _luck_ that the direction he jumped was _away_ from the shooters, according to the dots Tantei-kun brought back up. Twin gunshots fired, but with the winds blowing in his favor, Kaito was well out of range. The echoes of the shots reverberated through the streets, but quickly faded away.

“Well, _that_ was a close one, wasn’t it, Tantei-kun?” Kaito asked amiably, not entirely expecting an answer back. He was surprised by a reply.

_ Hurts… _

_Shit!_ Kaito cursed. _Tantei-kun did get hurt_.

An image popped up at that, showing a cartoonish human body. A red line drew itself along the right bicep, the hand Kaito had been gripping as he towed the kid along during their chase. Careful as he could, Kaito maneuvered the kid around so he could check on the damage. The kid ended up hugged to Kaito’s chest with his head pressed against Kaito’s neck as the Guide looked him over.

The cut was a bullet graze. Normally, it wouldn’t need more than a stitch or two, but that was for adults. Kaito had no idea how dangerous it was for children.

 _Okay, hospital it is,_ Kaito thought as he quickly started working on plans to disguise himself. He could probably call the boy his younger brother if he went as himself, but Tantei-kun was still fuguing. He’d smuggled the boy out of his heist in order to keep his secret. It seemed foolish to go back on that ideal now.

_ No… _

The map of Beika came up again, the first point that KID had rejected reappearing in a soft pink glow.

 _Where is that?_ Kaito wondered.

 _Mine_ , was the answer, vague as it was.

“Well okay then.” Kaito muttered to himself. Changing course, he angled towards the residential area, keeping a lookout with both his eyes and his mind for the destination. When he started getting closer, he began circling to give himself an easy pinpoint landing. The roof wasn’t flat, so he had to land on the house right next door, a modern atrocity that had so many windows Kaito was surprised it hadn’t been broken into yet.

Folding his hang glider away, Kaito checked in with Tantei-kun to make sure he hadn’t passed out.

 _Smells good…_ was the sleepy reply.

Well… at least he wasn’t zoning on his sight anymore? Kaito was sure there was a how-to for this Guiding business. He needed a primer at least. Kaito _had_ to get better at this if this was going to be a _thing_. Which he hoped it, you know, _wouldn’t_ be.

A trap door sprang open a few feet from him, startling KID. A honey blonde head stuck itself out, grey eyes narrowed at him. When they noticed Tantei-kun in his arms, the child ( _really? Another child?_ ) gasped and swung a gun up to meet him. Kaito flinched back, shielding Conan from the barrel and sight.

 _Smooth, Tantei-kun!_ Kaito complained silently. _Got rid of two guns just to drop us in front of a third!_

 _Protecting…_ Tantei-kun twitched and that seemed about all the ‘protection’ Kaito was going to get.

Right, he was still listening in on Kaito’s thoughts.

“What did you do to Conan-kun?!” the child – _girl_ –demanded, gun shaking in her grasp.

A beat of thought and Kaito answered as calmly as he could. “Tantei-kun went into a zone during my heist. I couldn’t exactly leave him there, so I snuck him out with me.”

“Why is there _blood on your suit_!?” she demanded, and Kaito cursed in his head because _dammit, that wasn’t going to come out!_ And he had _liked_ this suit!

Not that he wouldn’t get an exact copy for his new one, but still!

_ Sorry… _

_Not your fault, Tantei-kun,_ Kaito wanted to say, but he was pretty sure he might look even _more_ insane to the girl. Slowly, he lowered himself to a crouch, pausing when the girl straightened the gun and clicked off the safety. He wisely stayed put, despite the awkward position.

“I had a few… unwanted visitors at my heist,” KID said, trying not to scare the girl too much. He didn’t want the gun going off by accident. “Tantei-kun helped me escape, but he got grazed. I wanted to take him to a hospital, but… he wanted to come here.”

The girl stared for several moments before slowly lowering her gun. Kaito finished lowering himself to the ground, Tantei-kun still comfortably cuddled up to him like it wasn’t the _weirdest thing Kaito had ever seen._

And he’d seen actual _magic_.

“Did he say why here?” the girl asked. “Why this house?”

“Actually, it was supposed to be the house over there,” Kaito nodded behind him, “but I couldn’t land on that roof. He said it was his.”

“Ah,” the girl nodded and finally set the gun aside. “Bring him in. We will treat him as best we can. I have questions for you.”

“Sorry,” Kaito said, pushing Tantei-kun off of him. The boy had fallen asleep, so Kaito gently set him on the ground before opening his hang glider again, “but I only came to return him to you. Take care!”

Just as Kaito turned to leave, he paused, looking back over his shoulder. “And I suggest Tantei-kun find a Guide he is able to work with. Next time, something worse might happen.”

With that, he took to the skies, eager to get home. He didn’t once look back.

Okay, not _more_ than once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to say "Good Job!" or "Sequel please!" just leave a Kudo (or a Kaito, I'm not picky! ;) ).
> 
> If you have actual constructive criticism, please leave a comment below. I am working to better my writing for you, my readers, so if you have any improvements, please put them down below.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to say "Good Job!" or "Update soon!", please just leave a Kudo (or a Kaito, I'm not picky. ;) ) He gets his point across very well.
> 
> If you have constructive criticism, please leave a comment below. I am always trying to experiment with new techniques to anything to help me improve is appreciated.


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